Personal AI startup Convergence has raised $12 million in Pre-Seed funding.
Founded in April 2024 by machine learning engineers Marvin Purtorab, CEO and Andy Toulis, CTO, Convergence is redefining how we use software. Pairing users with personalised AI, Proxy can learn tasks and workflows, freeing workers from administrative burdens and mundane repetitive tasks.
Proxy can also be tailored to consumers. It offers everyone the opportunity to have their own personalised AI agent to support tasks from booking holidays to ordering groceries.
Marvin and Andy met at Shopify while working on recommender systems and AI assistants before joining Cohere, the AI platform for enterprises.
Since founding Convergence only a few months ago, they have brought together a team of specialists from companies including Google DeepMind, Meta, and PolyAI. The team progressed from concept to product launch in just three months.
Unlike most agents, which are designed for specific workflows, Proxy will be able to work across a range of tasks and domains, acquiring skills like a human would through long-term memory and continual learning. This is made possible by a new class of models called large meta-learning models (LMLM), which are trained to acquire the skill of learning themselves.
Marvin Purtorab, co-founder and CEO of Convergence, said:
“Imagine an agent that keeps growing and learning whenever you teach them something new. Over time, the agent will take on mundane tasks allowing you to focus on higher-level tasks that are more impactful and also more enjoyable.
The key to our approach is the ability for Proxy to learn and memorise tasks on the job, remembering them for the long term and being able to use its memories to extrapolate to new tasks – just as a person would.”
Balderton Capital led the funding, which also included Salesforce Ventures and Shopify Ventures.
James Wise, Partner at Balderton Capital, said:
“Few people have the experience and skill that Marvin and Andy have, which makes them well-placed to take on the complex technical challenge of a product like Proxy.
In only a few short months, they have built a stellar team and are ready to ship a remarkable product that could transform how we live and work.”
The funding will be used to develop novel models that power Proxy assistants. These models will go beyond the current generation of AI, with a focus on enabling continual learning and skill acquisition through memory.
Convergence will launch Proxy in beta today, with limited spots available.
Lead image: Convergence team. Photo: uncredited.
By Tech.eu
Source: Tech.eu